With Xmas and the New Year becoming a distant memory, normality is reasserting itself and Britain is preparing to be immobilized by a handful of snowflakes this weekend. With the back-to-work feeling, the evenings still dark and travel chaos imminent, thankfully we can take refuge in our gaming to preserve our sanity…
Dan has been playing the new Sly Cooper game on his PS Vita but suitably embargoed all he can tell us after several hours is that “it’s very good indeed”. He’s also tried some Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed and that gets the even better “bloody brilliant” rating.
Similarly crushed beneath the weight of embargoes is Kris. Despite my trying to bribe him with a plastic triceratops model I got from The Natural History Museum many, many years ago (it’s probably quite a bit older than Kris) I couldn’t get him to even name what the embargoed game(s) is/are. That’s integrity for you.
He did admit to finally getting around to playing Journey though. While he didn’t find it as amazing as some have said (I suspect Al is implicated there) he did own up to having enjoyed his time in the desert. “Towards the end there is a moment of pure joy that made me very happy.” Presumably not the credits? The one criticism he identifies is that “it didn’t feel quite as explory as I’d thought though”.
[drop2]Peter has been playing a little bit of a flash game called American Dream, a game that sees you having to make $1 million trading stocks. He notes that as “Terry Cavanagh [of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon fame] had some involvement so it’s not surprising that it’s quite compelling”, but cautions that “it’s not substantial enough to warrant a proper release, I’d imagine”.Luckily, it’s available for free so you can see if you can become a millionaire quicker than the 44 weeks it took Peter. He’s also embraced “the lunacy that is Frog Fractions“.
It’s deceptively clever but totally mental. It also kind of breaks at one point early on when you can completely circumnavigate the in-game currency system. That “break” is obviously intentional though, which makes it kind of hilarious.
Tuffcub meanwhile has been struggling with with a “dreary” and “badly scripted” game, The Walking Dead. Cue hoard of attacking zombies enraged game fans. He did provide an example of the game’s inconsistency similar to ones you probably encountered if you have played it:
One character is nice to me for giving him an energy bar then 2 seconds later tells me to fuck off and never speak to him due to something else I did earlier.
TC says that he much prefers Telltale’s version of Jurassic Park which is “exactly the same game structure, complete with annoying kid, but has giant bloody dinosaurs chasing you about rather than badly drawn zombies”.
[drop]He certainly seems to prefer the company of Late Cretaceous period ceratopsid dinosaurs in the misnamed Jurassic Park as he notes that while “everyone goes on about being emotionally involved with The Walking Dead” he finds greater pleasure in feeding the “annoying twee” Clementine “to the zombies at every opportunity”.Vanquish has seen a bit more action and TC still “really quite likes it”, suggesting that “at least that has proper characters who act like humans rather that sub par soap opera stand ins”. Discuss.
His PS Vita has been exercised with Knytt Underground, “which attempts to be a hipstercool version of Jet Set Willy but ends up being annoying”, and Big Sky Infinity “which is strangely addictive, even with that awful voice over”.
Aran is still story-dodging in Far Cry 3 preferring to spend his time murdering the poor inhabitants of the game’s ‘enemy’ outposts. Finding ways to keep the blood off his own hands he enjoys “scouting an outpost, and exploiting weaknesses” which seems to be a euphemism for ‘finding a patsy’.
One outpost in particular where he chose to blame those he murdered for their own deaths he let a bear do the killing. “Who leaves a bear in a weak wooden cage that can be broken by a single shot?” he asks before providing his own answer, “people who become bear food, that’s who”.
I prefer to think that the outpost belonged to a charitable wildlife organisation who, having found an injured bear, were nursing it back to health. And the bear certainly can’t be blamed for becoming a bit irate when someone starts taking potshots at it with a sniper rifle, can it?
[videoyoutube]Yes, it does. Away from taking potshots with a rifle he’s picked up Football Manager 2013 and decided to play as The Potters. I’m sensing a theme. He’s played little of that, still being in the pre-season but is practising for some Suarez-style goals by playing NBA 2K13.On most occasions I’ve managed to take the camps without raising the alarm with my long range shenanigans. However my favourite scenario was when I sniped from a boat out at sea and then finished any stragglers off with the boat’s mounted gun. I’m aware this makes me sound like a psychopath.
Aran suggests there are a number of areas where NBA 2K13 beats other sports titles. First is that “when it’s a big game there’s real life footage of famous landmarks of the host city” helping to anchor the game in the real world.
“And every sports game dev needs to play the game to learn how to get in game commentary perfect”, citing the way “the commentators react to your press conferences” and how they make it “sound like you’re watching a live game”.
Finally this week we have Blair who has “been really busy developing a game in Flash for University so I absolutely hate games right now”. He has valiantly struggled to play some New Super Mario Bros. U though as it’s a recent acquisition.
It’s good fun but not quite as rewarding as the 3D Mario titles, somehow; progressing through the levels just doesn’t feel as good, even though there’s plenty to do and collect. It’s quite hard, too – a proper platformer – which has just heightened my momental enragement for games even more.
So, after giving you with the impression that we’re all game-hating psychopaths who feed young children to zombies for pleasure and have a fetish for horny dinosaurs all I’ve got left to say is what have you played this week?
Youles
Loads of Uncharted: Fight for Fortune – I’m on my fourth and fifth playthrough, 4 and 5-staring each person before moving on to the next. It’s really enjoyable although the bloody online games keep getting disputed due to a glitch which is annoying.
Rage – reached Subway Town on my Ultra Nightmare playthrough. I just want it done now! :(
Participated in my first DiRT Showdown meet which was alot of fun – looking forward to more!
I hope to play some NFS Most Wanted (Vita) tonight, along with some more DiRT Showdown and attempt the new AC3 DLC trophies!
Dom El
I’ve mostly been making my way through Mass Effect 3 which has the added advantage that my wife enjoys watching it. The only problem there is when I’ve played it without her and have to provide a summary :/
I’ve also played a tiny bit of Trine 2 on Wii U, which is beautiful, and Plants Vs Zombies on my iPad.
Beyond that I’ve also been playing Pokemon Conquest, which so far isn’t up there with titles like Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars, but is an enjoyable take on the genre. I’m not convinced whether it’ll get better from where I am or if I’ve already discovered all there is to it – I’m sure I’ll find out either way!
gaffers101
This week it’s been Far Cry 3, Crysis 2 and a bit of 2 player LEGO:LOTR with my son – a pretty good gaming week for me :)
JohnnyBoy
Got the Tom Clancy double pack for christmas and just finished the story mode for Vegas 2 – graphics are (obviously) dated but a really enjoyable game. Looking forward to GRAW2, but I need to go back to AC3.
Also trying to get Leeds United back where they belong in the Premiership on FIFA Football on the Vita (any bargain buys for transfers gratefully received.) I’ve not played a footy game in years but I think this is great – although the tactic of crossing/heading a goal is too easy, so after this season I’m going to have to switch off some of the assistance.
jimmy-google
It’s the usual for me, Ecolibrium on the vita as well as LBP vita. Spending a lot of time creating my first top down level which is based a bit on the PS1 game Sheep.
Started Dishonored. Not the prettiest of games and I’m as good as being stealth as I want to be but it’s fairly enjoyable. Makes me want a new thief game even more.
R1MJAW
Finished off Catherine on Normal and got the ‘Bad Lover’ ending (which I think is the worst one … lol).
Been spending far too much time playing Jetpack Joyride as it’s quite addictive (without buying any coins it’ll probably take about 30-40 hours to get 100% of the trophies).
Picked up a RB3 keyboard just after Xmas so I’ve been playing that every now and again along with the occasional blast of Fifa 13 (which still has dodgy EAS FC servers that disconnect every 2 minutes even when just playing single player stuff).
On top of that there’s the usual Showdown meets and some DOA 5 with Motalla.
I’m looking forward to RCR next week and also EDF 2017 Portable for Vita.
Youles
I’m sure your choices in Catherine have no relevence to you as a lover in real life :p
The FIFA servers are bloody awful, and worse to hear they are still bad this far on!
Motalla
I attended the TSA Dirt Showdown meet with the “in”-crowd on last Sunday and Tuesday and had a ball. OA commented that I had been stuck on level 27 for quite some time. I told him I wasn’t but it turned out he was correct. Playing the same game on different machines has it drawback.s. You have to update the games save profile all the time. Turned out I had forgotten it.
On Thurday I had some quality time with R1MJAW in Dead or Alive 5, we fought a 50 online matches with boosted both his and mine online fighting statistics. I have about 785 online matches left before I reach a 1000.
After this festival of fists and kicks in the head I had a “secret” Tony Hawks Pro Skater TSA-meet with the usual suspects: OA, R1MJAW and Forrest (on his new machine).
Youles
I had that with DiRT 3 – most multiplayer games save your progress on the servers but for some reason DiRT saves your Fans on the save file.
I also lost about 20K Fans when I got a YLOD during a TSA DiRT 3 meet. :(
allan_treebeard
*Tried* to play a lot of Guardians of Middle Earth. Its a fantastic game but the networking on it is so bad its pretty much unplayable. Even more so if your in a party with friends. Me and my friend usually have an average wait time of 5 minutes before a game even starts. Giving up on it until they patch it.
Also played a bit more of Vanquish on Hard, stuck on the final boss now which is really hard!
Completed Arkham City as well which was pretty decent. Looks like theres a lot of additional secrets to get too….
element666
I started Resident Evil 6 this week,I have finished Leons first chapter and i’m not sure so far.
Other than that a bit of Hitman and PS all stars battle royale :)
LTG Davey
Give it time. I wasn’t wow’d at first but it really grew on me over time and is now one of my favourite RE games. I really like how the campaigns tie together.
Then again a lot of people hated it so you might end up feeling the same lol.
The Lone Steven
Started a new character on Demon Souls. Royailty, lost 15k souls, lost all desire to play it and haven’t touched it since. Only 3-4 hours worth of gameplay anyway. I also believe Demons is far easier then Dark Souls. 4 hours in, not many deaths and having no trouble with DES, DAS, many deaths, getting my rear end kicked, crying myself to sleep, self harming and threatening to snap the disc in half. :op I suspect Dark Souls 2, which i hope is not the final title as it’s lazy and doesn’t seem suitable for the Souls franchise will be harder then Dark Souls. Meaning, they had better do a promotion where you get a free stress ball or a punching bag. ;)
Haven’t really been playing anything as i’ve just not had the desire for which i will blame the Cravendale cats for that. Also i saw Up last night. Twas excellent but it’s Pixar and they rarely release disappointing stuff. Wish they still did outtakes as i enjoyed them in Toy Story 1 and 2.
LTG Davey
Up is quite brilliant. One of the better kids films out there.
Dom El
Whilst a fantastic movie, the opening of Up is quite possibly one of the most heartbreaking pieces of cinema ever created – and all with no dialogue! My fiancee (now wife) went to see it just before we got married and we were both crying before the film had properly started!
Motalla
Has the shutdown of the demon souls server affected the game play? Just curious since I have to start yet.
The Lone Steven
Not really. Only the summoning and leaving messages as well as getting invaded parts have been disabled for obvious reasons. Has lost the “please don’t invade me now whilst i’ve got over 10k souls” factor though. I remeber in Dark Souls, i always feared being invaded after a boss. Anor Lando was full of tension. DES does feature some black phantoms but they are easy to beat(based on the ones i’ve faced so far).
@LTG Dave I agree. Brave is excellent as well and will win back your trust if you felt letdown by Cars 2. The day Pixar closes will be a major blow to the industry.
Motalla
Can you still platina the game despite that?
The Lone Steven
I don’t think From put in any online trophies so i suspect you could plat it.